New Times Square mega tower one step closer to becoming reality

Gary Barnett, president of Extell Development, is the master of assembling development sites (Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Developer to the 1% Gary Barnett is one step closer to bringing another monolithic tower to Midtown.

His company, Extell Development, has closed on the purchase of a 52,000-square-foot parking facility at 251 W. 45th St. for $45.78 million, according to public records. The garage can be razed and combined with an adjacent empty lot already owned by Extell to make way for a skyline altering building.

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Experts said the Times Square tower could be Barnett's tallest yet and would most likely be a hotel, despite Barnett's tendency towards building luxurious condos.

"This is not really the right place for apartments," said broker and analyst Robert Shapiro of Center City Real Estate. "With these large floor plates, he'd be better off with a hotel or offices."

Barnett, a master of assembling prime Manhattan development sites and the developer of One57 on W. 57th St.'s Billionaires' Row, has been patching together the site for years.

The parking lot is one of several key pieces in a larger assemblage (PropertyShark)

He acquired a key part of the site last year in an unconventional property swap deal with real estate giant the Related Companies, which swapped it for another piece of land in the Hudson Yards area on the west side.

Since then, Barnett has been hungrily buying up air rights from theaters in the neighborhood in order to make his tower even taller.

Barnett did not respond to a request for comment on his plans for the building.